Chapter Text
“You dare command me?” Artemis shrieked as she reeled around to face Percy, though Annabeth did see her expression flicker for a microsecond upon seeing his face. Clearly she had been expecting a look that mirrored her own, but to hear that voice and know it came from a completely blank expression made it even more daunting. Though not, Annabeth realised, daunting enough to stop Artemis from continuing to say, “I am a Goddess and, prophecy be damned, I will smite you where you stand if you try that again.”
“Remember, My Lady,” Percy said mockingly, a smile forming on his face. A smile with none of the normal humour or sarcasm that he was known for behind it; but one that allowed the hidden darkness that was always inside him, and made worse by his time in the pit, to be shown. Annabeth noticed an unconscious shiver run through the hunters, though whether it was fear, respect, or otherwise, she didn’t know, as all their eyes turned towards their patron Goddess. “That before your blessing, before my time with the Romans, before my dip in the Styx, before Pan’s blessing, or Calypso’s blessing, or even my Father’s blessing, I was able to keep up with your hunters in terms of combat. Do you really think that I couldn’t have all of them disposed of before they could even touch a hair on Annabeth’s head. Some of them may even be given a return trip to Hades, and we wouldn’t want that, now would we Phoebe?”
His eyes briefly flicked over to look at the girl holding the knife to Annabeth's throat and, despite her being one of the oldest hunters AND a child of Ares, she left out a meek whimper and dropped her weapon, before turning his attention back to the Goddess and dropping his smile. “So I’ll say it again. Stand. Down. Now.”
Annabeth and the hunters watched as Percy stared down a Goddess who is known for having slain countless men across multiple continents, and milenia, for much less insult than he was showing right now; and if they were being honest with themselves, very few of them were surprised to hear the Goddess scoff and look away, an action the hunters recognised as an animal admitting deference to a stronger beast. They were, however, surprised to see her toss her bow away like a child having a tantrum, even if she did still warp it away so it wouldn’t be damaged by hitting the ground.
“Very good,” Percy purred, sending another shiver to run through the assembled girls, and Annabeth had no doubt what emotion caused this one. It made her remember how angry she was just a couple minutes ago, though it was aimed at something else this time.
“That voice is meant to be aimed at me only,” she thought. “How dare these men-hating bastards react that way to its effects, after the way they’ve treated him in the past? The Amazon’s I could understand, they at least tried to capitalise on what they had when he was their prisoner, but these girls have done nothing to earn it.” She paused for a moment as the memories of a conversation flashed through her mind. “Then again, if what Thalia told me was true; most of these hunters may be more similar to the Amazons than their patron would prefer.”
She watched Percy turn the Goddess around by the shoulders and lean in to speak directly next to her ear. “Now why don’t you be a good girl and tell my girlfriend what you told me.”
Annabeth saw an almost imperceptible shiver go through the Goddess too; but before she could internally express her curses for the Goddess, Artemis spoke up.
“Perseus…” she faltered when the hands gripping her shoulders tightened slightly, before starting again. “Percy… was telling the truth when he spoke to you earlier. I came to him a couple days ago to inform him of a prophecy that I believe to be about him.”
“You believe? So you don’t know for sure?” Annabeth asked. “And why are you the one giving out prophecies? Isn’t that your brother’s or the Oracle’s responsibility?”
“Apollo’s still missing,” one of the Hunters piped up. “And his Oracles only relay prophecies that he knows of.”
“What does that have to do with anything? Shouldn’t he be aware of all new prophecies?”
“Not if the prophecy has been around since before he was born. Now stop interrupting me or I’ll turn you into…”
Percy stopped her by tightening his grip on her shoulders again.
“Anyway,” she said through gritted teeth, “as you should know, I was born a few seconds before my brother, and we Gods are born with the powers of our main domain. But what you probably didn’t know is that in the few seconds before we are born, those powers pass through our mothers to get to us; with our mum being no exception. Usually this doesn’t mean much, since there isn’t time for them to do anything with those powers, but when one of your children has the domain of Prophecies, a couple seconds is all you need for it to speak through you. Which is exactly what happened with Leto.”
Before she was able to continue her story she was interrupted by the arrival of Thalia and Chiron, who was wearing his medical satchel and greeted the Goddess by bowing with his front legs.
“My good lady Artemis, it is good to see that you and your hunters are okay; and must I say, it’s an honour to see you at camp once again. Though I am curious why you’ve banished my campers from their cabins if you aren’t in need of my healing abilities.” He stood back up and looked at the Goddess, finally noticing Percy stood behind her in a Hunter’s uniform. “Oh my poor boy. Why must it always be you?”
“You already know what this is about?” Annabeth asked, failing to hide her surprise. “How?”
Chiron turned to his student with an apologetic look on his face, one that showed the aeons of sadness that he has witnessed. “Of course I do. I am older than the oldest Gods, and nature has been speaking of what is to come to anyone that can hear it since long before even that.”
He cleared his throat and spoke the words he’d heard in many different ways over the years.
When the sun is thrown from the sky for a careless remark
And the owner of the Old World’s heart bares the Hunter’s Mark
The fates of all future hero generations
Are in the hands of his own heart’s venerations
“It is because of everything that’s happened to him as to why he’s the subject of this prophecy too.” Artemis replied. “Leto was only able to pronounce one prophecy before the power transferred to my brother and, since I was the only present, it was a prophecy about me. Though the wording was more in line with what my brother spouts out.”
She took a deep breath and began reciting.
A Half-Blood of the eldest Gods
Saves Olympus twice, against great odds
Gains the virgin’s favour three years prior
The next generations of heroes, his alone to sire.
“A child of the eldest Gods? Check. Has saved Olympus twice, while also facing many of our greatest challenges? Check. Gained my favour by taking the weight of the sky in an attempt to save you, myself, and my hunters? Check.”
“Apollo was banished from the heavens because of how he spoke to Zues after the Giants War,” Chiron added, taking over the explanation. “And Percy has been given the outfit of a hunter, also known as the Mark of Artemis.” He sighed and looked at the ground, shaking his head, before turning back towards Annabeth. “I’m sorry, my child, I truly am. Were it just one or two aspects then I would agree that there’s a chance this wasn’t Percy’s fate. And I’d wager it’s yours too.”
“Mine? What do either of those have to do with me directly?”
“Are you sure you’re a daughter of Athena? Surely you know what veneration means.” Annabeth opened her mouth to answer but Artemis kept going. “It means to hold in reverence or worship. And who better falls into that classification other than you?”
Annabeth turned to her boyfriend with an incredulous look. “So that’s why you were going to ask me what I thought about all this? Because you knew I’d have to either choose between my feelings or what, keeping the world safe forever more?”
“No!” Percy yelped defensively, a bit louder than he intended. “I was going to ask you because I genuinely wanted to know your thoughts, and was going to act based on your answer. Even if you’d given me an ultimatum of ‘it’s either you or the future generations of demigods’ the blame’s still on me for what I choose. It would’ve been you by the way; just so everyone here knows where I stand.” He smiled down at Annabeth, and then added with a laugh, “though, I guess if you had successfully chopped my dick of earlier that still would’ve counted as ‘in your hands’, now wouldn’t it?”
“I’d have preferred if that was the actual interpretation,” Artemis muttered to herself, though she made sure she was speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. “Imagine how lucky I could’ve been if that had’ve been the choice. He either sire’s them with his… thing, or he doesn’t have one and everything goes back to how it was.”
“If you expect us to believe you are so reluctant then why are you pushing this so much? It’s not like you’ve ever needed the girls to be demigods specifically in order to recruit them.” Annabeth demanded. “I’m beginning to think thou dost protest too much. Maybe you’ve had a change of heart but can’t let anyone know what a needy little…”
She was cut off by something whipping towards her and wrapping around her neck, and she suddenly found herself unable to speak, or even breathe properly. Chiron and Thalia immediately rushed over to try and help her, with Percy jumping down and joining them a split second later, but their fingers were unable to find a gap between the loops of wire around Annabeth’s neck.
